Featuring an exciting lineup of talks, symposiums, and four-hands dining experiences, the Kita Food Festival will take place in Kuching, Penang, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur
Food has this extraordinary ability to tell the story of peoples, histories and cultures all over the world. It is this unique feature that the Kita Food Festival celebrates as it makes its highly anticipated debut in Singapore from October 19 to 23. The much anticipated culinary event, which boasts its biggest lineup yet since its inception in 2021, will also return to Malaysia’s key food cities: Kuching (September 27), Penang (October 13 to 16), Kuala Lumpur (October 26 to 30).
At the centre of it all are co-founders Malaysian-born chef Darren Teoh, head chef of Dewakan, Kuala Lumpur; Australian-born Leisa Tyler, a food and travel journalist who was on the board of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for 10 years; and Adrian Yap, founder of Tiffin Culinary which holds pop-up events, food hall Tiffin at the Yard, and Freeform (which runs Urbanscapes, Malaysia’s longest-running creative arts festival). With a combined experience of 50 years in media, food, and business, the event promises to be an F&B-centric experience for professionals and stalwarts in the industry.
The word “kita” means “us” or “we” in Malay, a particularly fitting name for the theme of this year’s festival, “We Are One”, seeking to celebrate the connections of seemingly disparate cultures and the simple joy of sharing and learning about food and sustainability. Though the Kita Food Festival spotlights Southeast Asian culinary culture, some of the finest chefs, winemakers, and tastemakers across the globe will be descending upon the festival to highlight Southeast Asia’s emerging and increasingly vibrant food scene.
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“While the 2021 Kita festival was localised due to closed borders, and the 2022 festival featured chefs and speakers from across Southeast Asia, 2023 will cast an even wider net, with chefs, culinary historians and business leaders from across the world,” co-founder Tyler said. “Kita Food Festival is in the vanguard for culinary initiative, innovation and thought leadership that puts community and creating a robust and sustainable F&B industry at the centre.”
Among the key programmes of the festival is Kita Conversations, which features a series of TED-style talks and symposiums from major players in the food industry, like chefs, food producers, suppliers, and even historians and anthropologists to tackle pertinent issues such as sustainability and food waste. "Kita Conversations hopes to be a catalyst for a positive conversation around food that isn't always discussed in this region,” co-founder Teoh added. “A lot of the people we are inviting aren't only good cooks but some of the most original thinkers surrounding food in the world.”
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